Image formation is a procedure whereby a digital image is recreated on a medium by propelling droplets of ink or another type of print fluid onto a medium, such as paper, plastic, a substrate for 3D printing, etc. Image formation is commonly employed in apparatuses, such as printers (e.g., inkjet printer), facsimile machines, copying machines, plotting machines, multifunction peripherals, etc. The core of a typical image forming apparatus is one or more liquid-droplet ejection heads (referred to generally herein as “printheads”) having nozzles that discharge liquid droplets, a mechanism for moving the printhead and/or the medium in relation to one another, and a controller that controls how liquid is discharged from the individual nozzles of the printhead onto the medium.
The nozzles of a printhead may be aligned in one or more rows along a discharge surface of the printhead. The printhead is mounted in the image forming apparatus so that the discharge surface is facing the medium. In a typical image forming apparatus, the printhead is mounted so that the row or rows of nozzles are oriented perpendicular to the direction of relative movement between the printhead and the medium. For example, when the printhead is fixed in the image forming apparatus, a mechanism in the image forming apparatus may move the medium in a feed direction that is perpendicular to the row(s) of nozzles. Often times, nozzle density (i.e., Nozzles Per Inch (NPI)) of the printhead is not high enough for single pass printing. Thus, manufacturers continue to look for ways to increase nozzle density for printing.